Richard Dunwoody

Three times Champion jockey Richard Dunwoody is one of Britain’s most successful jockeys ever. He was at the forefront of English National Hunt racing in the 80’s and the 90's, winning the Big Three races – the Grand National, the Champion Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

When he hung up his boots at the age of 35 due to injury in 1999, he had won a record 1,699 races and endured 672 falls - a record which he still holds! He is best known for his partnership with the legendary Desert Orchid on whom he won seven races. Richard was awarded an MBE in 1993 for services to his sport. In December 2008 he was also awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of the University of Ulster in recognition of his contribution to equine sport.

A racing pundit for the BBC, sports columnist, and inspirational speaker, Richard also completed in January 2008 a gruelling 680-mile, 48-day trek to the South Pole unresupplied and on a new route, one that Shackleton intended to take back in 1915 but failed to conquer.

In 2009 Richard walked ‘1000 miles in 1000 hours’ up and down Newmarket’s Bury Road recreating a feat undertaken 200 years earlier by Captain Barclay. This monumental effort involved walking a mile in every single clock hour for 42 days, thus suffering massive sleep deprivation – but raising almost £200,000 for his charities.

2009 also saw Richard’s appearance on the BBC hit show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, an experience which he describes as far more daunting that riding around the Aintree Grand National fences!